Monday, 29 February 2016

MR BEALE AND COPPER PIPES.

The Argus (Melbourne) Wednesday 11 August, 1909.

Mr O. C. Beale commented on the maiden voyage:

'Captain Ilbery', says Mr. Beale 'is a watchful, earnest and cool commander, who maintains excellent discipline without a display of authority. His Chief Officer, Mr. Owen, was considered by his colleagues to be an exceptionally accurate and careful navigator. Chief Engineer Hodder himself received the whole of the machinery when it was erected in the ship, and the entire mass was delivered in 36 hours, while she was under the sheer-legs. It is a magnificent installation throughout of the most modern type, and it worked with perfect smoothness throughout the voyage. Upon the trial of the Waratah a portion of the main steam-piping was considered by Mr Hodder to be inadequate, and it was removed on his advice, and replaced by more reliable work. During our voyage a fire broke out in one of the coal bunkers and it was subdued by the staff without flooding the bunkers, which probably have been the last resort had serious danger threatened. The Waratah carries much top hamper, because of her numerous decks far above the water, her enormous funnel, many boats, and rafts, water tanks and some few stores. Nevertheless she was very stable during the whole trip. 'Fiddles' were scarcely once required on the tables, and on my dressing-table pot plants stood the whole voyage.'

It is heartening to come across positive character references. There has been a tendency to point a finger of blame at the master and crew of Waratah. Thank you Mr. Beale for setting the record straight!

In all the many posts on this Blog, little has been said about the copper used in the steam pipe system. Mr. Hodder recognised flaws as early as when the Waratah went on trials. It is common sense that flaws could have had catastrophic consequences. It is assumed that the problem was solved before the Waratah entered into service. But this was not the case: "The Waratah did have one small repair carried out here, but it was of so insignificant a character that the cost did not exceed 3 pounds 15 shillings. Mr Booth (of R Booth and Son, engineers, Greyville), who effected the repair, as being the removal of a suction pipe from one of the auxiliary feed pipes, from what is known as the Weirs pump to the heater, which raises the temperature of the condensed water preparatory to its being fed again into the boilers.""The job was quite a small one, and was needed owing to a fracture which having occurred in the pipe - a copper one - due to a flaw in the metal. This took place some time before the steamer's arrival in Durban, on the voyage from Australia."The removal and replacement of the 'suction pipe' was carried out at Durban during Waratah's final voyage. The 'fracture' pointed to a flaw in the copper used in the pipe's construction. This indicates that the full extent of the problem noted by Mr. Hodder at trials, was not thoroughly attended to. It took three complete voyages for the problem to manifest. This shortcoming in construction points once again to inherent faults - relating to a limited budget or not. It is not surprising to me that this issue was not raised at the Inquiry. Every effort was made to steer the Court's attention away from inherent defects in the Waratah. Mr. Beale outlined the Waratah's significant top hamper and drew attention to the enormous size of her funnel. By the time the SS Ballarat, Waratah's successor, was constructed a significantly smaller funnel graced the steamer. No one wanted a repeat of the Waratah incident.Mr. Beale claimed the voyage was smooth and pot plants on the table remained in place. This statement certainly flies in the face of comments describing a list to outrageous degrees which would have had objects sliding off tables en masse.